Want to scare a copywriter? Tell them that your landing page is not converting.

Unfortunately, even the best built campaigns are ruined if the landing itself is not good enough and you don’t get the leads or subscribers that you assumed in your planning.

You will immediately recognize a good landing page if you can answer the following questions:

“Is there only one single question on the page?”

“Do I continue the dialogue started by email (PPC, Facebook, etc.)?”

“Is the page understandable even if I just skim through it?”

“If it were my competitor’s copy, would I believe it? Is it credible enough? “

“Do I encourage people to take action?”

In this article you will learn how to answer all of the above questions with “YES” … and how to improve your landing page in 5 quick steps.

1) Reduce distractions

Your landing page has one purpose: to get conversions.

It’s not about introducing your company.

It’s not to show your certificates.

It’s not for social media shares.

It’s not to generate engagement.

Your only goal is conversion. It may even be to capture a subscription or purchase.

This means that you have to get rid of all items that don’t help this goal. So, remove the navigation bar from the top and don’t link out of the page – because if your visitors leave the page, they are likely to forget to come back and you lose your conversion.

Don’t embed a video from YouTube, as your visitor may click elsewhere (by clicking on the videos offered at the end of the video and… look… they’re on YouTube). Upload the video to your own server and play it from there … or look for a page where your embedded video will be link-free (we use Vista).

Your landing page shouldn’t contain any other links than the call to action. Remove the navigation bar and footer: the only way out is click on the CTA (or close the page).

2) Keep the context (This will definitely increase your conversion)

You start talking to them in an email (or in an ad, social media post, etc.) and your prospect lands on the landing page. Do you continue to communicate the same as in the email? Same style? Same offer?

If not, you will confuse your visitor.

This is called the “message match”. We assume that many elements are likely to increase conversions (since there are so many variables in a campaign and so many different industries, it’s difficult to give a best practice that you know for sure before you test to convert). Message match, on the other hand, is sure to increase conversions.

The message match has 2 components: style and message.

The visuals of the ad and the landing page should match and give the same style and feel. This includes the design, fonts, and images.

The message itself in the copy: the copy of your ad should have the same headline and sub-headline as on your landing page. (Yes, that means 10 separate landing pages for 10 different ad versions.)

This is important because it will give your visitor a better user experience, help them find what they are looking for more easily, increase their time spent on page, and increase conversions.

According to Oli Gardner (co-founder of Unbounce), 98% of campaigns do not match the advertisement and landing message, which is a budget burn. But that means you can be better than 98% of marketers.

Let’s look at 2 good message match examples.

Air Canada display ad:

And the landing page:

Same message, same visual, same style.

An even better example is Full Sail University’s display and landing page:

3) Be specific

Along with the message match, this is what most landing pages mess up.

You know your offer in and out, because you put it together, you actively contributed in product development, you read your messaging dozens of times, and you know exactly what its benefits are.

But maybe your prospect is meeting you for the first time. To them, “IT for small businesses” is too general. They don’t know if they need it, or what the benefits are.

Therefore, describe exactly what your offer is and why it is good.

What IT Service(s) specifically?

What happens if I order?

What percentage of my results improve?

How much faster/better/more/nicer/etc… will things be for me?

A bad example: “We help small businesses quickly register domains”.

Good example: “Have your domain in 2.5 minutes. Get your name right away. Launch the campaign tonight.”

It’s easy to be specific:

Use numbers. 147% is more accurate than many.

Think about what your customer wants. They don’t care what the domain itself is: they need a web presence with a keyword that may give them a good ranking score and help build their brand. So don’t talk to them about the domain, but about an online presence (which they can access with domains).

Use the right keywords. I’m not talking about SEO but start telling the words your customers use when they are searching. Search for keyword trends, review customer support logs, and ask your customers.

Forget industry jargons. You’re not writing to your competitor. You’re not writing to your manager. And please don’t tell me that “this is how we talk in our market.”

Let me show you 2 examples of ad text. Can you tell which was more effective?

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Guess…

Version A gained 88% more clicks.

4) Pay attention to your credibility

Of course, it’s important what you say about your product or service.

But another very important factor is how credible you are. Because no matter how good your offer is, it’s meaningless if you are not trustworthy.

It’s not difficult to make big claims in marketing copy. Everyone can do that.

But you need to back up your claims:

Don’t use fake customer reviews, because 99% of the time, they look fake. Your customers are not stupid.

From the real ratings, select the ones that are specific to your target market and highlight them. For example, in a baby shop, a twenty-year-old woman’s opinion is more credible than a man’s – even though a husband can shop for his baby.

If you make a big claim, show a screen shot of your results or a video of your process that justifies the claim.

5) Remove objections in the call to action

Let’s say your landing page is promoting an event, and your target conversion is registration. We know how life can be: there is something that happens a month later and they can’t attend.

It will raise questions:

But what happens then? Can I cancel? Is it difficult to cancel? Do I have to pay for my ticket? Do I still get a summary of the event?

Write under the call to action button: “Make an appointment! If you can’t come, you can cancel your reservation later without penalties. ”

Conclusion

Your conversion is always a sale – even if you’re not selling anything, and just want to gain subscribers.

Look at your poorly performing landing page now. It’s not a shame to make a bad landing page – every marketer in the world has so many failures that you wouldn’t even believe it.

Then implement the 5 tips above, and your conversions are almost certain to increase. Because It’s what you do with those failures and how you turn them into a learning experience toward success that matters.